Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a suction device that sucks a fluid.
Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, various suction devices that suck a fluid such as air have been devised. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a breast pump 900 that is used by a mother or the like for taking the breast milk.
FIG. 16 is an external view showing the configuration of the breast pump 900 disclosed in Patent Document 1. FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing the passage configuration of the breast pump 900 shown in FIG. 16. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the change of the air pressure within a left cup portion 901 and the change of the air pressure within a right cup portion 902 while a pump 930 shown in FIG. 17 is operating.
As shown in FIG. 16, the breast pump 900 includes a suction drive unit 924 having the pump 930, the left cup portion 901 to be worn over the left breast, the right cup portion 902 to be worn over the right breast, and a tube 992. With this configuration, the breast pump 900 forms a passage 910 shown in FIG. 17. The pump 930 has a suction hole 932 and a discharge hole 931 for air.
The passage 910 has, between the suction hole 932 of the pump 930 and the left cup portion 901, a hole 918 connected to the outside of the passage 910 and a switching valve V91 for opening/closing the hole 918. The switching valve V91 further provides communication or causes a blockage between the suction hole 932 of the pump 930 and the left cup portion 901. Here, when a blockage is caused between the suction hole 932 and the left cup portion 901, the left cup portion 901 communicates with the outside of the passage 910.
In addition, the passage 910 has, between the suction hole 932 of the pump 930 and the right cup portion 902, a hole 919 connected to the outside of the passage 910 and a switching valve V92 for opening/closing the hole 919. The switching valve V92 further provides communication or causes a blockage between the suction hole 932 of the pump 930 and the right cup portion 902. Here, when a blockage is caused between the suction hole 932 and the right cup portion 902, the right cup portion 902 communicates with the outside of the passage 910.
In the above configuration, the switching valve V91 and the switching valve V92 alternately switch the passage 910 between a first form and a second form as shown in FIG. 17. The first form is a form in which the suction hole 932 and the left cup portion 901 communicate with each other and the suction hole 932 and the right cup portion 902 do not communicate with each other (i.e., the right cup portion 902 communicates with the outside of the passage 910). The second form is a form in which the suction hole 932 and the left cup portion 901 do not communicate with each other (i.e., the left cup portion 901 communicates with the outside of the passage 910) and the suction hole 932 and the right cup portion 902 communicate with each other.
With this configuration, the breast pump 900 is able to take breast milk from the left and right breasts with the single pump 930.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2000-511443